Being close to the Lord - what can keep it from happening?

Christ explains why people don't come to him in D.C. 84.

49And the whole ^aworld lieth in sin, and groaneth under^bdarkness and under the ^cbondage of sin.

50And by this you may know they are under the ^abondage of sin, because they come not unto me.

51For whoso cometh not unto me is under the ^abondage of sin.

52And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with ^amyvoice, and is not of me.

53And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole ^aworld ^bgroaneth under sin and darkness even now.

Interesting that it is sin that blinds us to Christ. Apparently, even in this world where we walk by faith, if we're not involved in any sin, it should be somewhat obvious to us that Christ is involved. One of the sins of this generation is pride, which probably is the sin that keeps some from recognizing God in their lives.

Also, consider this verse in Helaman 13. Here Samuel the Lamanite says that those who have done wickedly are surrounded by evil spirits. I think that is a literal truth, not something figurative (just as it is clear from the scriptures and some stories that there are angels around as well):

36O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.

37Behold, we are surrounded by ^ademons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days.

Therefore, when we are making errors, we are more influenced by the bad of the world, and it's more difficult to discern Christ and accept him and his Gospel. The converse is also true. When we are doing good and being close to the good, it is much more likely that Christ becomes apparent to us and that we accept him.

Finally, as an aside, people talk about how 'evil' can come to us in ways never before seen in the world. I just had an experience with this. I was looking at the referring sources for the blog (i.e., where visitors came from that came here) and clicked on one of the links, and it was a pornography page - many naked pictures. I quickly closed it, but it's incredible that this is so accessible that I stumbled upon it. My kids are going to encounter difficult things in their lives...

What's not learning by the Spirit then?

I wrote about learning by the Spirit a couple times lately. A fair next question would be, "how can I tell if something is coming from God or from some other way?"

D.C. 50:15-16

15And then received ye ^aspirits which ye could not understand, and received them to be of God; and in this are ye justified?

16Behold ye shall answer this question yourselves; nevertheless, I will be ^amerciful unto you; he that is weak among you hereafter shall be made ^bstrong.

Contrast verse 15 with verse 22.

22Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are ^aedified and ^brejoicetogether.

A critical component of having the Spirit in teaching and learning is understanding. This is something I have come to know.

I believe it is good to ask questions and try to find answers. May I highlight, "trying to find answers." Questioning for questioning's sake does little good. At times I have gone down lines of questioning that has involved scrutinizing church doctrine or positions, which can be fine. Often in moments when negative thoughts about the church have come to my mind, I've had to think, what is this helping me understand. If thoughts only cloud my thinking rather than redirecting me towards a more clear outcome, then those aren't from God. For me a good barometer of the spirit is understanding.

Another verse - here's Alma 32:34,35 (focus on 35)

34And now, behold, is your ^aknowledge ^bperfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your ^cfaith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your ^dmind doth begin to expand.

35O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is ^alight; and whatsoever is light, is ^bgood, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good; and now behold, after ye have tasted this light is your knowledge perfect?

I like the phrase "discernible" here. It makes me think of analogies. Perhaps you've been hit in the eye before and it makes your vision blurry for a while and tough to tell what you're looking at. Contrast that with clear vision. Or, for the glasses wearers: the difference between having glasses and not having glasses.

Better yet - if you thought of all the knowledge in the world represented as a painting that had to be uncovered. Imagine that the painting is covered by black cloth. As you learn something and understand something, a little bit of that cloth is replaced by a light gray cloth that you can see through but the painting is still a little tough to see clearly. Eventually, when you have a full knowledge, that portion of the painting is uncovered and another portion of the black cloth becomes this light gray see-through cloth. Interestingly, knowledge can move the other way. Things that were covered by the see-through cloth can become covered by black cloth.

I think our learning is like this. God wants to teach us things that can be understood because it allows us to change behavior and continually act better and improve. If we're taught things that can't be understood or confuse us more, that's not knowledge from God or from the Spirit.

I don't think I'm explaining this stuff incredibly well, but hopefully there's something useful there.

If you have a thought or someone teaches you something that only leads to more and more confusion, that's probably not from God.

Finally, here's how the Savior says it in D.C. 50:23-24:

23And that which doth not ^aedify is not of God, and is ^bdarkness.

24That which is of God is ^alight; and he that ^breceiveth ^clight, and^dcontinueth in God, receiveth more ^elight; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.